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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Find Out Who You Are by Researching your Family History

by Pamela S. Meyers

To celebrate my first posting to the Christian Fiction
Historical Society, I’m giving away a signed copy of my most recent release,
Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which is my hometown. It’s a 1933
historical romance. Leave a comment to this post and win the book!!! A lot of the town's history is woven into the romance between Meg Alden and Jack Wallace who work for the town's weekly newspaper. Will Meg lose her heart to the man who stole her job?

Most of us have seen the television show, Do You Know Who You Are? when a celebrity is given opportunity to trace a portion of his or her
family tree back to a unique ancestor they knew nothing about. Long before tracing family history became as popular as it is
today, I set out on my own journey to find out who I am. In the process, I found Revolutionary War soldiers,
a bootlegger, and a myth about an Alabama man on my maternal grandfather’s side
who fought off an Indian raid.

But one of the best discoveries for me was finding out where
my creative strengths come from.

I knew only a little about my paternal grandmother’s father, Oscar Bancroft,
until I started digging through papers that had been handed down .

Patent Application

I already knew from Dad that Oscar had fought in the Civil War for the North, and was a photographer, making his
living taking family portraits and headshots. I have a lot of sepia-toned photographs of people
staring stiffly at the camera with his name on the back of the mounting board. But, what I didn’t know until I started researching
was that he was also an inventor. Here is a picture of an application he filled
out to apply for a patent for a hair crimper.

Oscar Bancroft. His picture appeared in an article I wrote for a genealogy magazine

I kept digging further down that branch of my family tree
and discovered that Oscar’s first cousin, George Bancroft, was a well-educated
man who was Secretary of the Navy under President Van Buren. During that time
he founded the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and Bancroft Hall still stands
on that campus today. Not only that, I learned that George was a writer and
wrote a history of the United States. That's him on the left.

George Bancroft's Manuscript

Out of curiosity I went to my local library and discovered they have a copy of the history book on the shelf! It's hard to describe the emotion I felt when I took his book off the shelf and read my ancestor’s words.
I later purchased a copy of his biography through eBay. In the bio, I found a picture of his rough draft. Seeing that handwritten document made me grateful for computers and very emotional at the sense of connection I felt with him as a writer.

As an extra bonus, the skills I’ve learned doing family
research have carried over into research for my historical novels. My new story, also set in my hometown, takes place in the 1870s, and I’m having real people who lived
there back then interact with my fictional family. I have used online sources to trace the real familys’ lines. When I first started doing family research, I had to go to the library or other physical sites such as courthouses to gain a lot of information that is now available with a couple mouse clicks.

We may not have the experts the celebrities on the TV show
have, or the means to travel to the countries of origin our ancestors came
from, but we still have resources available that with a little time and patience, we can learn so much about our family origins and what life was like generations ago.

Here are three great websites to get you started:

The U.S. Gen Web
Project has been at work for least a decade with a goal to link researchers to every county in the United States for genealogy
research. You can go to any state and any county in the state for information
and history on those areas.

Cindi’s List has a
wealth of information and links to all things genealogy It’s been around a long
time and keeping improving over time.

The Ancestry.Com
website is a treasure trove. They have many scanned antique
records where you can look up your ancestors and find their birth, marriage and
death records and link with others who are also searching your family’s
history. You may even find a long lost cousin! Also, you can order or download their software to start keeping
track of your family tree on your computer.

Have you already searched your family tree? What interesting
people have you found there?

Don’t forget to leave a comment with contact information for a chance to win a signed copy of Love
Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

A
native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban
Chicago, an hour's drive away from her hometown which she visits often to dig
into its historical legacy. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love
Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries and her 1933
historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva,Wisconsin, released in
April, 2013. She can often be found speaking at events around Lake Geneva or
nosing in microfilms and historical records about Wisconsin and other Midwestern
spots for new story ideas.

28 comments:

What wonderful family history you have found! My maternal grandfather has done some research on our family history and it is fascinating to find out more about our ancestry. Thank you so much for sharing the links above. I hope to start doing some research of my own!

It is so interesting to find out about those that walked before us. Everyone has a story and so many stories are just waiting to be dug into and read. I loved reading your post. It makes me want to do some digging of my own.

You have some very interesting ancestors! I haven't done any family research myself, but have an Aunt who has done a bit. I'm pretty sure she said that we are related to Winston Churchill! I know I read somewhere not long ago, that his mother was an American, so the connection might be through her.

Thanks for your first blog posting! Since my parents were both born in what was then Russia, I don't think I can find any historical data, but I certainly enjoyed learning about yours. Thanks for the giveaway - would love to win.bettimace at gmail dot com

I really enjoyed reading about the path to your family history. I have not yet started researching ours yet but some other family members have. Thank you for reference sites to check into.Also thank you for offering your book. I have read several of the books about where love finds you and enjoyed them all. Lake Geneva sounds like a great area and setting for a love story!mcnuttjem0(at)gmail(dot)com

I have done a little research -thankfully there are people who know our roots. Would love to read about Lake Geneva - I've been there and it's beautiful place! thanks for the chance.. truckredford(at)gmail(dot)Com

My cousins have done family research and it is very interesting when we've gotten together at family reunions to update our families and look at those still photos you mention! I was born in Wisconsin as was my husband. I would like to have your book to read. I hope I win a copy! Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net

I have always been interested in hearing about my family history, but have sometimes been told so much that it is hard to remember it all and keep it straight! So, I had just begun thinking this week about looking into it myself. Your post is very timely and I am going to check out those links you posted and look into my history and my husband's. I know he has some really interesting family ancestors on his side, such as John Howland from the Mayflower, Pat Garrett of Billy the Kid fame, another Garrett who died in the Alamo along with another ancestor who also died there. Then, there is the history of his family in Scotland who gambled away their family castle to the Campbells! I wonder if I can find anything to compare to his! Anyway, I loved your post. Thanks for the chance to win your book.Brittany McEuenkbmceuen(at)yahoo(dot)com

I find researching family genealogies so interesting. Though I have genealogists working on my family trees on both my mother's and father's sides, I do a lot of research like this for others at the historical society I volunteer at. I've found that the website findagrave.com is also a good resource, and if your area has old newspapers online (Northern NY Historical Newspapers for my area), you can find most anything you are looking for (or not looking for)!

Great suggestions, Mallori. I'll have to check out the link. I went to the big cemetery where a lot of my dad's past family members are buried and found all their graves. I wanted them to jump out and start talking to me LOL.

Hello Pamela. I really enjoyed this article. I sure would love to know more about my Ancestry. But I don't hardly have anything about my mother's family. My DIL is looking up for me. She has got a good bit and showed me some on her computer awhile ago. Had a picture of my great grandmother and Great grandfather, but no picture found of my mother's mother. Was so hoping there would be, for you see she died when my mother was only 5. Wish I had asked more questions before all of the older generation was gone, but wasn't thinking of it back then. I know mother had an aunt that lived where we did, which would have been her mother's sister. But still, I never heard stories of my family stories. I have heard about going to the Library but don't know how to start. Thanks for this interesting info. Maxie mac262(at)me(dot)com

Maxie, I couldn't get the reply link on your comment to work. You can begin right on your own computer. Ancestry.com makes it pretty easy. Start with what you know and plug in the names of your mom and dad and then the names of their parents, if you know them. If someone else has already researched family lines that include those people and have their research plugged into the system you can link to those. Once you start it's hard to stop. Give it a shot!

I did try the free one, but after 10 days you have to buy a membership and I can't afford it. When I tried it only gave me what little I already knew and didn't have a place to put any more names to help. But, will have to check again. Thanks. I'm hoping maybe she will make me a copy of what she's found already found and give it to me for Christmas. Best thing she could give me. Maxie

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